


coffee and scrawled words

by saveyourheart13



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: (I mean look if I'm gonna be self-indulgent I'm gonna go all out), College AU, F/F, Minor Davenport/Merle Highchurch, Minor Magnus Burnsides/Taako, Soulmate AU, TAZ Big Bang 2018, The Adventure Bang 2018, also much less of a slow-burn than I originally thought, coffee shop AU, not-friends to friends to gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-11 04:45:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16469030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saveyourheart13/pseuds/saveyourheart13
Summary: “She’s real cute. Do you think I could get her number?Lucretia nearly spills her coffee when the words appear on her arm, clearly visible in the sunlight as she stands outside. It’s a looping penmanship, somewhere between a proper scrawl and something much more elegant. She’s never seen the handwriting before.Lucretia has no idea how to react.”Lucretia knows how it goes – you meet your soulmate, and then their words start showing up on your arms. Kind words, always kind words and always about you; compliments, little observations, the like. But of course you don’t get to know who. Where’s the fun in that?Some cosmic force seems to believe the fun is in the not knowing.Lucretia isn’t sure she agrees.(Alternatively: I dip into three extremely self-indulgent AUs and run with it)





	coffee and scrawled words

**Author's Note:**

> Accompanying works by:  
> [agenasu](https://agenasu.tumblr.com)  
> [bellayoufool](https://bellayoufool.tumblr.com/)  
> [spookywormz](https://spookywormz.tumblr.com/)
> 
> (direct links incoming!)
> 
> This entire thing was extremely self-indulgent and I have no regrets

Lucretia knows that being late isn’t really a cause for concern, but she finds herself worrying all the same.

It can’t be more than ten minutes past when they were supposed to meet, but Magnus still hasn’t shown up and she’s fighting the urge to pack up and walk to the field herself. They’d made plans to meet at 6pm, after Magnus was supposed to be done with training, so they could compare their schedules and catch up after the long break. And she _knows_ ten minutes isn’t a long time, really, but anything can happen, and it’s Magnus, he can be a bit reckless sometimes, and –

The small _ding_ from her phone pulls her from her thoughts, the screen lighting up to show a message from Magnus. She feels the tension leave her body as she opens the text, laying her pen down on the notebook she’d been writing in.

**training went late**  
**b ready ASAP**  
**srry**

**Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you at the café**

**just come to my room  
     should b unlocked**

**Alright. Do you want something?**

**nah coach said lots of water**

**And don’t think I missed that you leave your door unlocked**

**:)**

Lucretia shakes her head, feeling a little ridiculous as she gathers up her things to stand in the short line that’s formed while she’s been waiting. Of course it was just that training had gone late; it wasn’t the first time it had happened, and it definitely wouldn’t be the last. But it was hard to stop herself from worrying, especially about him.

They’ve been friends for years, from the moment Magnus had decided to sit with her at her lonely lunch spot, only a few days after she’d transferred into the high school they’d both attended. She had tried to convince herself that she would be fine spending her breaks alone, reading a book or writing in a journal, just like she had in the schools she’d been to before; but really she had been scared to try and make friends. He’d shaken up her routine of being a distanced observer with a friendly smile and an outstretched hand, boldly noting that she was new in town and making it his mission to befriend her, or at least make her feel welcome.

She’d been more relieved than she liked to admit when she found out that they’d both been accepted to IPRE University their senior year. What started as a simple, welcoming gesture eventually turned into a proper friendship, and since then they’d stood with each other through everything. Apparently even going to college together.

“Hey lovely, what can I do you for?”

Lucretia looks up at the friendly greeting, meeting the eyes of a barista she doesn’t recognize and immediately returning her gaze to the counter between them. Her face grows a little warm, and she thinks about how she’s lucky her dark skin hides most of her blush.

“Um, just a red-eye, please.” The girl makes an amused noise, and Lucretia glances up to see her chuckling as she pulls a cup off the stack. She’s smiling like there’s a joke that only she’s in on, but not in a way that’s cruel. She has a very pretty smile.

“You got it, sweetheart.” She winks, and Lucretia blushes again, handing her the exact change for the order as she tries to collect herself. Familiar talk like this doesn’t usually get to her, but this girl is – well, _incredibly_ charismatic would be putting it lightly. And also, maybe, Lucretia thinks she’s incredibly cute.

Lucretia catches sight of the handwritten name tag as the girl turns to start her drink – Lup, written neatly in block letters with an almost excessive amount of decoration around the edges. It matches her, loud in all the right ways without being _too_ much. Her movements embody the grace of a cat, with all the desire for attention of one as well; she moves with confidence around the other baristas at work, upbeat in her demeanor. She must be new – Lucretia knows most of the people who have worked here in the past, with how much time she spends in the café – but she interacts with an ease that Lucretia almost envies, tossing jokes and light jabs as easily as Lucretia lets words flow from pen to the page. 

“Here’s that red-eye for you.” Lup holds out the cup with a dazzling smile, amber-colored eyes meeting her own. “Enjoy the rest of your day!”

“I – thank you, enjoy yours as well.”

“Oh, I will.” There’s another wink, and another flash of her bright smile, and then she’s off to take the order of the last customer in line, trading places with one of her coworkers.

A little flustered by the exchange, Lucretia adjusts her grip on the cup and the strap of her bag, leaving the familiar scene of the café behind to begin her walk across campus to the dorms. It isn’t terribly far, but if she doesn’t hurry she’ll be caught in the rush of students leaving their last classes of the day, and that’s something she’d rather avoid, if possible. Something is clinging to her arm – maybe a loose thread from her shirt, or splash of ink or paint from work – and she goes to absentmindedly swipe it away before realizing it’s spreading.

_She’s real cute. Do you think I could get her number?_

Lucretia nearly spills her coffee when the words appear on her arm, clearly visible in the sunlight as she stands outside. It’s a looping penmanship, somewhere between a proper scrawl and something much more elegant. She’s never seen the handwriting before.

Lucretia has no idea how to react.

 

Magnus, on the other hand, has a lot to say when Lucretia tells him about it.

“ _What?_ No way, let me see.” He’d just come back from the showers when Lucretia arrived at his door, and he’d stopped in the middle of putting on a shirt when she mumbled about the appearance of the marks on her arm.

“Magnus, it’s fine, it’s – it’s no big deal.” It’s a half-truth; it _shouldn’t_ be a big deal, as far as she’s concerned, but her heart has been beating a little too loudly in her chest since she noticed them scrawled across her skin.

“Aw, come on, Luce! You were all about seeing mine when they first started showing up.” Magnus tries to angle himself to see the words that haven’t faded yet, and Lucretia tucks her arms further against her body in response.

“You were the one who couldn’t wait to show them off to me, you goof. And it’s different. You knew who it was right away for your first one.”

She remembers when he came barreling into her room, beaming and dusted with the snow that had been falling since late morning. Magnus had been practically vibrating with excitement as he held out his arm to her, the slanted sprawl of letters spelling out an unmistakably flirty and forward compliment. She’d barely gotten the chance to look up from the words before he blurted out that it had been Taako, the boy he kept seeing as he passed the theater building but hadn’t had the nerve to talk to – until apparently he did.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t change anything! You should still totally show me yours.” Magnus is almost begging now, probably only another few moments away from trying to pout his way past her stubbornness. “And I know you wouldn’t have brought it up if you didn’t want to talk about it.”

Yeah, alright, he has her there. It’s the one downside of having a friend who knows her well enough to call her out on her mannerisms and choices.

Lucretia sighs, slowly unfurling herself and stretching out her arm, the words only just beginning to fade. She blushes when her eyes skim over the words again before settling somewhere along the floor, free hand fiddling with the edge of her shirt.

Magnus is grinning as he reads the words, excitement in his eyes as he looks back to her face. “You know what this means, right, Luce?”

Of course Lucretia knows what it means. Growing up, everyone hears about the way it works, the marks that start appearing once you’ve met the person the universe – or whoever or _what_ ever – decided is your other half. Or best match. It depends on who you ask, really, but the idea stays the same: you’ll meet someone, someday, who is meant to be your partner, and when they compliment you their words will appear on your forearm. For many this happens with only one person, but for others it happens with several people, whenever it is that they end up meeting. And once you figure it out – well, it’s not impossible that things won’t work out, but the odds of it are, as Lucretia understands it, incredibly low.

The catch is, the definition of ‘meeting’ for the purposes of… whatever this system is supposed to be is incredibly vague, and even the smallest interaction – or even just eye contact – can qualify as meeting someone. And yet there are some who don’t have words beginning to appear on their arms until several times interacting with the person in question, sometimes even years later, in rare cases. It’s all far from a science, despite people literally dedicated their lives to trying to figure it all out. And that’s not even getting started on what qualifies as a compliment, or whether the compliments have to be verbal or just expressed to someone else.

Lucretia definitely hasn’t done her research on this. Absolutely not.

“I can’t believe you met someone today. You should figure out who it is!” Magnus is grinning, the look on his face suggesting the beginnings of a scheme of some sort. “We could definitely figure it out, with how many people I know, and your memory. I bet we’ll find them in no time at all!”

“Or I could just… not.” She knows she doesn’t mean it as soon as the words leave her mouth. She’s heard of people who ignore the marks when they appear, in favor of staying with a partner they already have, or in favor of just deciding it’s not what they want. It was still a choice at the end of the day, after all. It’s just not the choice she wants to make.

“Except that’s definitely not what you want to do. Work with me here, Luce. Who are all the people you met today?”

“Magnus, you know that’s a ridiculous thing to try. It was the first day of classes, there’s no way we’d be able to track every one of them down. And I wouldn’t do that, anyways.” She sits up straighter, reaching to take a sip of her edging-toward-lukewarm coffee. “If all of this… whatever it is really is meant to be, then I’ll see them again sometime. It’s not a big deal.”

“I guess,” he says, drawing out the sound as he flops onto his bed. “That’s no fun though. You could always make an effort too, you know. Not leaving things to chance, all that stuff.”

“And where would be the fun in that?” she mutters into her drink, glancing down at her arm again. The words are nearly gone now, having been fading while they were talking. For a moment she stares at them, willing them to give her some sort of clue, anything to help her find whoever it was that she met today; but she knows it’s useless, and she watches them disappear until she can’t see them against her skin any longer. “Anyways, let’s compare schedules. I’m hopeful that this semester I won’t lose you to your sports for once.”

“I could say the same about you and your books!”

Lucretia sticks her tongue out at him, the familiarity of it coaxing them both into laughter. She’ll worry about the whole business of figuring out the words later; for now, there are other things that need seeing to, and a friend to catch up with.

 

Lucretia stifles a yawns as she walks into her morning class, scanning the room for an empty seat. She’d been up far later than she meant to last night – between talking with Magnus until he was practically asleep on his floor and needing to get the reading for this class done before she could even think about getting ready for bed, she got less sleep than she wanted to. And she definitely didn’t spend at least an hour staring at her arm where those words had been scrawled earlier in the day, willing them to come back, or for more to appear. It definitely wasn’t something she thought about as she was falling asleep, running through the people she’d met within the past day, the past week, wondering who it was that she was supposedly connected to and whether she would meet them again, or if she’d ever even know.

No, definitely none of those things.

She isn’t the first one to arrive today, even though she made sure she’d arrive fairly early, but she manages to find a seat at the end of one of the long tables without much issue. It’s near enough to the front of the room that she wouldn’t have to struggle to hear, but far enough back that she wouldn’t be immediately called on. People continue to trickle into the classroom as the minutes tick by, in varying states of being awake and hating the world for requiring them to be up for a class before noon. Lucretia can’t really blame them; even though she rarely sleeps in this class time is bordering on being ungodly, considering her preference to take her time in the mornings. But it was getting a required class out of the way, and by her attempts to outline her schedule for her remaining years, it would give her a sliver of breathing room for her next several semesters.

The door swings open with a burst of laughter and conversation, startling Lucretia into looking up from her notebook. Two incredibly similar-looking people sweep into the room – probably twins, or siblings who share a lot of traits, Lucretia notes – a whirl of surprising energy compared to the others who have arrived thus far. They draw the attention of everyone in the room with an ease that has nothing to do with the fact that they’re talking as they enter; and to her surprise, Lucretia recognizes one of them.

“See, I told you we should have gotten here earlier. All the good seats are taken.” Lup’s tone is teasing as she elbows the person with her lightly, and Lucretia finds herself picking out details that she hadn’t properly noticed in the café yesterday – like the freckles that pepper her face and shoulders, just distinct against the rich bronze of her skin; or the way her undercut brown hair falls, thick and wavy, looking too close to perfect to have been left up to chance. Or the way her laugh rolls from her even as her (probably?) brother snipes back at her; and the easy smile that graces her face more often than not, it seems.

Gods, she has _such_ a pretty smile.

Lup’s gaze sweeps across the room, and Lucretia ducks her head to stare intently at her notebook as if she hadn’t just obviously been staring. _Get yourself under control, Lucretia_. She picks up a pen and begins to scribble shapes in the margin of the page, which morphs quickly into a list of details about the classroom and the people in it. Something to focus on, keep her mind off of everything else that she could be thinking about right now.

_\-- three people wearing their hair down, eight with actual pencil pouches, two with notebooks out already, five pieces of chalk on the ledge of the blackboard, far too many sleepy college students --_

She hears Lup and the person she entered with move partway across the room, the sound of their conversation moving somewhat away from her before chairs scrape out and back in again along the tile floor. Lucretia chances a look up from her notebook in their direction, even as she continues to move her pen across the page – a useful skill, to be able to write in a mostly-straight line without looking constantly at what she was doing. For a moment she lets herself watch them snipe at each other good-naturedly, observing, like she usually does – Lup’s face lit up when she laughs at something that’s said, the ease that she sits in her chair with, her relaxed but not uncaring demeanor, and –

“Taking notes already, I see?”

The voice comes from near enough and without any warning, startling her badly enough that her knee jerks into the underside of the desk with a solid noise. A couple of people glance in her direction, mostly with concerned looks, and she rubs her knee as she looks up at the person standing in front of her. He’s a shorter, older man, with hair that’s gone completely white atop his head and in his beard. At the moment, he has a kind smile on his face, crinkling the skin around his eyes as he looks at Lucretia. She glances down at the words on her page, realizing that she’d written some of the last few things she’d thought while watching Lup. Slapping her hand down over most of the list, she forces herself to give a half-hearted chuckle, hoping that he didn’t actually read what she’d been writing down.

“Oh, um, not – not quite, sir.” His smile grows wider at her answer, and he picks up a bag he must have set down when he walked into the room.

“No need for ‘sir’ with me. That’s more appropriate for my husband.” He crosses the room, setting his bag on the table at the front of the room before going to fuss with the computer. He seems to struggle for a moment, squinting at the screen, until he seems to accomplish whatever he was attempting to do. Clapping his hands together with a pleased expression, he steps in front of the class and waits for everyone to quiet down.

“Welcome, everyone, to Sociology and You! Or Sociology 150, as the catalog likes to call it. If you don’t know me, I’m Merle Highchurch, professor of sociology, botany, and dance.” Lucretia raises an eyebrow as he mentions dance, looking around to see what everyone else thought of the comment.

“You always say that, and yet we still haven’t seen you show it, old man!” That’s the person Lup had come in with, a lazy grin on his face as he leans with an elbow rested on the table. Lup giggles next to him, nodding her agreement.

“Taako, I tell you every time, none of you are ready to see me dance!” Their professor strikes a few poses, earning several groans and a couple of claps from others in the room who seem to be familiar with him. He laughs with them, shooting back, “See, I told you! No appreciation, I’ll say!”

Lucretia sits up straighter in her chair when he mentions the name. Surely there was only one Taako that went to this school, which means –

“But whether you appreciate my amazing dancing skills or not, please, just call me Merle. None of that ‘professor’ or ‘sir’ business in here.” Professor Highchurch steps over to the computer again, hitting a button to turn on the classroom’s projector. “Anyways, let’s go over some of the basics, since it’s our first day in class. No complaining, this is important!”

He dives right in to their syllabus for the class, going over the points and answering questions about what would be expected of them. As always, Lucretia takes notes nearly as fast as he speaks, despite his reassurance that it will be sent to their emails later; she always prefers to write things in her own hand, even if it technically takes more time than just printing notes out.

Every so often she’ll glance toward Lup and Taako, the latter of who seems to be idly listening as he taps his pen against his desk. Lup flips a pen lazily around her fingers, nimbly catching it every time it looks like it’s going go flying across the room. It’s somewhat mesmerizing to watch, and Lucretia catches herself almost losing her focus on taking notes several times throughout the course of the class.

It suits her, Lucretia can’t help but think, that someone who exudes such confidence and comfort can do something like flipping a pen without dropping it throughout an entire lecture, even if it is just an introductory class period.

The rest of the time passes without much note, and when Professor Highchurch announces that the period is over, everyone gets up to leave nearly at once. Lucretia opts to stay put for a moment – her next class isn’t far from here, luckily, so she can afford to wait – instead of trying to fight her way in the crowd of people who will be leaving classes elsewhere in the building as well. Lup is part the crowd that leaves immediately, followed close behind by Taako. Lucretia can’t tell, with all the people leaving at the same time, but she thinks for a moment that Lup looked back over her shoulder, winking at Lucretia as she left the room. She feels herself blush a little, regardless.

As she rises from her chair and slings her bag over her shoulder, it occurs to her that she should have said hi to Lup when she walked in, instead of just, you know, _staring_. She bites back a groan, rubbing her hand across her face with a noise of frustration. _Goddammit, Lucretia. Now if you see her again she’ll probably think you’re stuck up, or you don’t want to talk to her. Why didn’t you say hello!_

“Something I can help with?” Professor Highchurch is looking at her with a mildly amused expression, seeming to have guessed that she wasn’t frustrated about anything particularly dangerous or concerning.

“No, I just… remembered something that I should have done. It’ll be alright.”

“Well, let me know if I can do anything for you. Merle Highchurch always has his door open to those who might need help. Or a good dance session to chases away those worries.” He laughs at his own statement, nodding to Lucretia as he heads out of the classroom. He’s an odd one, Lucretia notes, but nice enough and not terribly boring to listen to. Maybe morning classes wouldn’t be so bad after all.

If only she could manage to get herself together about everything else.

 

Lucretia’s next class is a comfort for her frazzled mind, even if it is with a professor she’s never met before and with classmates who are almost entirely upperclassmen, from what she can gather. There is little that can spoil the relative calm of a writing class for her, she’s found out over the past year. Something about the mix of creativity and structure is perfect in her opinion, so much that it led her to her mixed major program. A few professors had given her strange looks when they found out she was a double major in journalism and creative writing, but her advisor had been ecstatic about it, saying that not enough people appreciate the ways that the two fields can borrow from each other.

Her phone buzzes in her pocket as she’s leaving the classroom, and she pulls it out to see a message from Magnus lighting up the screen.

**so did u find ur soulmate yet? :P**

**Magnus, I’ve had classes**

**and?**  
**maybe theyre in class with u**  
**u never know**

**Mmhmm, and maybe I’ll join a sports team**

She smiles as she sends the sarcastic reply, appreciating Magnus’ optimism about the whole situation. They balance each other well in that regard, and she knows that she can use the reminder every now and then. Still, the odds of this person actually being in a class with her are… not as low as they might be elsewhere, considering the size of the university. But still not particularly high, by all counts. And it probably shouldn’t even matter to her, but she’s been thinking about it anyways, and even though she did pretty well with not thinking about it this morning, now she _is_ thinking about it and she feels ridiculous about the whole situation again.

Maybe it’s time to get that coffee she missed out on this morning.

Weaving her way through the crowds of people going to and from classes, Lucretia steps inside, the familiar atmosphere wrapping itself around her like warm blanket. Only in its busiest times has Lucretia had any problems with staying longer than the time it would take her to get her drink, and even then it was more the influx of people than the place itself.

The slight rush of people now, though, are no worse to brave than the rest of campus would be at this time of day, when lucky people have time for lunch while their unlucky counterparts hope to snag a quick drink or snack in between classes. Lucretia slides into line, making herself as small as possible as she pulls out her phone again to check her emails – always good to stay on top of things, so she doesn’t miss anything important.

She remembers the beginning of the last school year, as a freshman, when she would have to rehearse her order – the same drink almost every time – while she waited in line, so she wouldn’t stammer and stumble her way through her order and cause any confusion or hold up. Now, she thinks to herself with a wry smile, she’s confident enough to check her phone up until it’s her turn to order. What a surprise! Maybe there’s some hope left for her after all.

“Be with you in a second!”

Lucretia hardly has time to look up and give the assurance that she’s in no rush, finding herself looking up ever so slightly at Lup as she turns to face the register. Her expression immediately registers recognition, and Lucretia is left with her words caught in her throat at the bright look in her eyes.

 “Hey! We have that morning class together, don’t we? With Highchurch?”  A corner of her mouth tilts upward when Lucretia stammers, caught even more by surprise. She thought Lup hadn’t seen her, and now she felt even worse about not greeting her. “What, you thought I wouldn’t remember your lovely face?”

“Oh, I didn’t think – you didn’t –”

“Nah, I saw you, writing something down. Know better than to interrupt a girl while she’s doing her work.” She winks, the action completely unnecessary and all the more reason for Lucretia to blush a little in response.

“Sorry, I should have said hello.”

“Don’t even sweat it.” Lup smiles, bright and genuine, as she leans on the counter lightly, angling herself closer to Lucretia as if she’s about to tell her a secret. Lucretia finds herself leaning in too, ready to hear whatever it is Lup is about to tell her. “So, what can I get you today, beautiful?”

“Oh, I, um –” _Gods, Lucretia, you’d think she asked you out on a date, the way you’re acting._ “Just a, um, a red-eye, please.” Lup raises and eyebrow, and Lucretia scrambles to explain. “Sorry, just whatever roast you have and an extra shot, I mean.”

“Oh I’ve got you, lovely. It’s my first week here, but I’ve been to the café rodeo before. And you ordered this last time you came in.”

“Oh! Of course! Sorry I – I didn’t mean to say you don’t – that you didn’t know –” Lucretia can feel herself losing what composure she has left, and she can feel her hands shaking as she tries to fumble for her wallet. _Of course she knows what a red-eye is, Lucretia! She works here, and she literally made your drink for you yesterday!_

“Hey, hey, you’re good.” The soft tone of it pulls her from the spiral she was headed down, and there’s that easy smile again, Lup’s eyes kind but not pitying. “I just didn’t take you for a strong drink type of person as a regular thing. But I guess it makes sense, hm?” She marks off the order, pausing for a moment with her pen poised just above the surface of the cup. “It’s Lucretia, right? That’s the name Highchurch called when he took attendance this morning.”

Lucretia blushes again, using the act of pulling out money to pay as an excuse to look down for a moment. She’s probably just good at remembering names, Lucretia reasons. “Yeah, that’s my name. And, well, Lup, right?” She gestures vaguely toward her nametag, attached to her apron at just enough of a “wrong” angle that it had to be intentional.

“You got it.” Lup writes her name on the cup with a flourish, sliding it across the counter to her co-worker. He scrambles to catch it before it topples over the edge, shooting Lup a look. She smiles sweetly at him before returning her attention to Lucretia. “Greg’ll have it out for you in a minute, if you can afford the wait. Sometimes I wonder, with the way people come rushing through here.” She giggles at her own joke, punching in the order and reading out the total almost after Lucretia has the money ready for her. There’s another raised eyebrow and a half-smile from Lup.

She shrugs, a shy smile working its way onto her face as she feels herself calm down a bit. “I’m a creature of habit, I guess. And don’t worry, I’m not in any rush. I have to wait for a friend to get out of class, so I’ll be here for a while.”

“Well, try not to study too hard, sweetheart. Gotta have some fun too.” There’s another wink, somewhere between entirely exaggerated and extremely smooth; Lucretia doesn’t even understand how Lup manages to do that, but she does, and it’s – well, it’s incredibly attractive, if she’s being honest.

Lucretia laughs, doing her best to ignore the quite frankly ridiculous way that her stomach flops a little. “I’ll try, but I make no promises. Have a good day, Lup.”

Lup waves her off with another grin, turning to the person who’d stepped up behind them during their short conversation. She makes it look so easy, the way she can just bounce from person to person with such an effortless rhythm, like everyone is already a friend she’s known forever. Maybe that’s why she seems so friendly, and why seems to take every opportunity to call Lucretia some sort of cute thing, and why it trips her up more than it really should.

Magnus is going to have a field day when she see’s him later.

 

“Oohh, Lucy’s got it bad!”

Magnus’ sing-song tone cuts across his room as soon as she walks in through the doorway. His coach had kept him late at practice again, though this time he’d managed to sneak away and send a quick text to Lucretia giving her a heads up. ‘So u know ur ruff boi is safe lol’, as Magnus had put it.

I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” she snipes back, the heat rising to her face and the slight crack in her voice giving her away. As if her best friend didn’t already know. 

“Are you kidding? I haven’t seen you glowing this much since – oh, what was her name? Man, I feel bad for forgetting.”

“Her name was Maureen. But that’s besides the point! I’m not – I’m not _glowing_. I just had a good day is all.”

“ _Uh huh_. Bet it was better because some cute girl flirted with you.” He’s grinning, hanging himself backwards off the edge of his bed to watch her as she puts her things down at his desk. “So come on, spill the beans!”

“No beans to spill here,” she mutters, rubbing at her arm absently.

“Oh my god, did you meet them already?!” Magnus flips over so quickly that he almost falls off his bed, twisting most of his sheets around himself as he tries to sit right way up to face her. “And you didn’t tell me immediately?”

“No! I didn’t – Mags, I told you, the odds of me meeting this person anytime soon are practically nonexistent. There’s just… more.” He looks at her expectantly, puppy dog eyes winning her over even as she’s moving to help him untangle himself. “Fine, look. And don’t make that face!”

This time the words had shown up when she had been walking up the stairs to Magnus’ room, slowly scrawling their way across her arm: _She’s so sweet, I hope I see her tomorrow._ The odds of that were probably higher than she thought, if she’s already managed to see them two days in a row, or at least they’d seen her. But that also means it would be harder to pin down who it is, with how many people she passes just on her way to classes most days.

“Anyways it’s not – I told you, stop giving me that look!” She swats at Magnus’ arm, and he bursts out laughing, interrupting the wagging of his eyebrows he’d been doing. “I don’t know who it is, and I’m not chasing them down right now! I have – I have other things to think about.”

“I think you mean other _people_ , don’t you? Come on, Lucy, tell me about this mystery girl. Is it someone in your hall? Or one of the new library assistants?” Magnus pauses for a moment, squinting in her direction. “I don’t suppose it’s the one who wrote a heart next to your name.”

She inhales too quickly, some of her most recent sip of coffee going down the wrong pipe, leaving her coughing and Magnus looking far too interested in her cup. “ _What?_ ”

He reaches out to turn her cup in her hand, facing her name toward her. Somehow she hadn’t noticed it before – probably because in all the times she’d been to the café, no one had ever done anything but write her name on her cup – but next to her name was a small heart, a little lopsided but still very distinct. The color that rises to her face gives her away before she can even hope to speak, and Magnus beams.

“Oh my god, it is! Alright, now you really have to tell me about her. I would have put money on it being someone from one of your classes, honestly, but this is somehow better.”

“She’s… also in my morning class.” She’s pretty sure if Magnus grins any wider, his face will find a way to split. “I’m –” She has to pause to clear her throat, and takes another sip of her coffee to hide her blush. “She is very pretty. And very nice.”

“So you’ve talked to her?”

“A bit? I saw her yesterday for the first time at the café, when she took my order. And then she walked into my class this morning, with – oh! There’s only one Taako in this school, I’d imagine?”

Magnus seems a little taken aback by the sudden switch in topic, but answers without much pause. “I mean, probably? It’s not exactly a common name. But you’re distracting, as much as I love him and he would love to hear about himself, probably, this doesn’t tell me anything about your coffee girl.”

“Okay, first of all, don’t call her that, it sounds weird. Second, it is relevant. He was with her this morning, when she walked into class, I think? Or they were talking at least, so I assumed –”

“Ho-ly shit, are you talking about _Lup_? Taako’s twin?”

“He has a twin?” Her voice spikes in surprise, a lot about this morning suddenly falling into place. “And you somehow failed to mention this to me, _how_ exactly?”

“I dunno, I just forgot, I guess.” He leans back, giggling to himself, and she struggles to suppress the urge to smack him with his pillow. “Holy crap, Luce, I can’t believe you’ve got it bad for Lup!”

“I don’t know why this is such a big deal!” The entirety of her face is hot now, like a furnace ready to light fire to all of her precious books and pages of writing. “Also don’t say it like that, it’s not – it’s not like that!”

“Oh my _god_ , it totally is. I have to tell Taako this!”

“No!” Lucretia grabs for his phone, nearly managing to knock it out of his hand. “You can’t – I mean, if you do tell him, he _cannot_ tell her. Or anyone else, for that matter.”

“He’s a free spirit, I can’t control my boyfriend.”

“Well you better! I don’t – she doesn’t need to know.” The lettering on her arm draws her gaze back to it, and Magnus’ as well after a moment of her silence, pausing his fingers as they fly across his phone screen.

“Oh, are you thinking she’s probably not your person?” His demeanor quiets down immediately, suddenly conscious of what was being implied.

“I don’t know. Honestly I don’t know if I totally care to find out right now.” She shakes her arm out, like she’s trying to shed excess water from it. “Classes have just started, and I already have homework to take care of for tonight. Speaking of which, how was your first class of the semester? I still can’t believe you don’t start till after lunchtime on Mondays.”

“…Lucy I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to push it. I know you’re a bit iffy on the whole soulmate thing.” He’s doing the sitting equivalent of shuffling his feet, bringing a hand up to scratch his head at the same time. “I just – you know, I want you to be happy. I do want to know more about coffee girl – I mean, Lup.”

Magnus wiggles his eyebrows at her again, his grin right back on his face. Sometimes she’s impressed by the way his mood can switch so quickly from a bit sad to fairly happy, just by sheer force of will. She appreciates that about him, a lot.        

“Or we could, you know, talk about classes? Read a book? Take a late-afternoon, early evening nap?” He snorts at the last suggestion, giving her an accusatory glare.

“Alright, who are you and what you done with my friend? The Lucretia I know would never suggest a nap at this time of day. Something about messing up sleep schedules, or something. Maybe you really are smitten with Lup, damn.”

“Oh, hush, you. It was a joke. Now get your books out, we agreed this was study time first, and then time for us to hang out and chat. Otherwise we’ll never get anything done.”

Magnus complains louder than he strictly needs to, turning it all into more of a whine than anything else. Begrudgingly, he picks up a textbook for some class, flipping it open to what seems like a proper page so he can begin reading. Lucretia smiles, bringing out her own textbook and a notebook to start her own reading for the night.

She catches sight of her arm again as she does so, the ink-like lines swooping across her skin, calling her to think about them – reminding her that maybe it doesn’t matter who she might or might not have feelings for, if they aren’t her soulmate. Reminding her that it doesn’t _have_ to matter.

Somehow she feels like it always does.

**Author's Note:**

> You can also check out [my tumblr](https://saveyourheart13.tumblr.com) if you feel so inclined
> 
> Thank you to my partners for putting up with my bullshit as I was consistently very behind my intended schedule! 
> 
> Extra special thanks to my good, good beta, Jake, who is a massive nerd <3
> 
> Second half of this should be up by the end of the week!


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